-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Note 1: Let me know if you find any broken links; or anything else that can be added/improved.Note 2: If you found another Resource, or wish to write your own guide (relevant to the hobby), feel free to post it in the appropriate forum section, and if approved, it will be added to this list.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

thats a good idea i seen alot of how to guides when your looking for something else and all you see is...how to this & how to that over and over it gets annoying when most of em are easy no brainers lmao

Now, I just realized what it's like in a mod's position when something like this comes up, so:

I'm also willing to help out.

Like, if you give me some responsibility to look over guides as they come up, whether the guides are short or long, I am willing to read through each one, so that the current mods don't have too much extra on their plates. Actually, when I think about it, I'm probably going to end up reading each guide that comes up anyway, because... I like it. I like learning about the whole process. If you give me a couple days, I could gather all the relevant guides into one post, and try to keep them organized. Although it would help if people posted links to ones that you think I might miss.

Just to show that I am willing, I'll try to get this started. Although I know I won't have too much time in the next couple days, but it's probably going to be a slow process regardless, but I'm willing to do it, so I don't make so much work for you guys. [if you approve of the idea]

EDIT: See first post for updates.

Last edited by Phantasmagoriat on Fri Jun 15, 2012 5:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I was actually thinking about your guide too; but figured you'd post it eventually so I wouldn't have to hunt down the link <--- lazyI may have to make a separate section for video tutorials. That's something I honestly didn't foresee, but we need to organize those too. In fact, I have my own if you look at the first post. In the end I'll probably divide the post into Written Guides and Video Guides, but we'll see.

Again, thanks for your input. I like it when people see things that I don't.

My pen tool guide isn't meant to be Photoshop exclusive. I realize it's written from that angle, but the general gist of it is trying to help people understand a) what the pen tool is, b) how it functions across the entire Adobe Creative Suite and c) why it's important to someone making an AMV with masks. Also, at no point in my pen tool guide do I delve into the mechanics of actually masking or rotoscoping. This is a common misconception, but I deliberately avoided going into any of that when I wrote it. There are many ways to mask/rotoscope and many, many tutorials available online to teach people all about the different ways to do it. I'm happy to help people who ask for more details on that, but no one's going to learn how to mask or rotoscope by reading my guide!

More importantly....if there are certain subjects the admins (or the a-m-v.org community) would like to see guides available for, sharing that information would likely encourage people to write/contribute such guides. I've gotten the sense over the years that there are definitely certain criteria the admins use in determining whether to sticky someone's helpful forum post or accept a contribution to the formal guides area, but for someone maybe on the fence about writing a "guide," some clear standards might really help smooth the way. I've got one guide written on masking, for example, that I have not submitted yet b/c I fear it's far too subjective...but maybe it's ok. I don't know.

maybe we should duplicate this thread in general? some people looking for help mistakenly post in general so if they see that then maybe they won't post in the wrong section, but also, most of the second category has to do with general amv stuff rather than site help and stuff, maybe even duplicate it for the footage help sections? all i know is this is a pretty sweet resource and it's kinda out of the way in here, though i do see the reasons for putting it here.

@DriftRoot: yeah, now that you mention it, I see what you mean. But since I don't want to misrepresent your guide, do you have any particular preferences where I should put it in the list? I was thinking of removing the [Masking/Rotoscoping] label, and maybe moving it to section D. MISCELLANEOUS TECH, but since the guide is written from the perspective of Photoshop, I'm a bit torn where to put it. I may have to come up with entirely different categories too since the list is still in it's infancy, and I can easily make changes now, especially before people start making Effects guides... which will happen eventually. I mean, the hobby as a whole is still pretty young, and AMV's haven't quite hit puberty yet Maybe the equivalent will happen later on as the new org develops. But anyway, since the Pen Tool is your guide, I would appreciate any input how to present it accurately.

Also, I like your idea for "guide guidelines" so that people don't just slap things together and call it a guide. When I have time, I'll try to put something together, though I can't promise it'll be any time soon. But I will put it on my TODO list.

And because I like being direct these days, I have a question for you DriftRoot: Is there any way you could bring down the file size of the .pdf? I mean, it looks cool and all, but 77.7MB seems like a lot for an 18 page guide; and it might have something to do with the way the file is saved; but I don't really know how the guide was created. ofc, if you can't, that's fine too, I just think it might deter people from downloading and reading the guide all together.--------------------

@gotegenks: Yeah, the original idea was to make this an omni-sticky (like we have with the Epic Merch Contest), because if there is one thing people should see when they first join the Org, I think it would be this list. That way people know where to look for information, without having to track down all the stickies themselves and read them; then filter out all the unnecessary ones in the process... like "To those worried about Bill S.978..." I really don't think it's necessary to be so overt. It's just as important as all the rest (although I can also see the strategy behind that to deflect legal issues). But anyway, if there is one thing that people should see-- it should be this list. And then they can decide what information is important to them.-----------------------

But I think the admin is still deciding what to do with this list. Because it could potentially replace a lot of stickies that seem unnecessary, which would make a lot more work for them too. I mean, I was thinking we should have a sticky subforum in General AMV, and move certain stickies (like guides and stuff) there. It would converge all relevant information into one location called something like "Knowledge Base" or whatever. But at the same time, certain stickies still need to remain true stickies [like The VidID Tag]. Still, I think an omni-sticky would do a better job of spreading information overall, then have it linked to a Knowledge Base subforum in General AMV (or make a main forum? IDK). What do other people think?

I can see how you might interpret it that way, but what I am trying to accomplish goes far beyond self-promotion. I am literally thinking back to when I first joined, and remembering all the frustration of finding relevant information, and filtering out all the crap to find the stuff that actually mattered. I don't want anyone else to have to go through that. So I think by putting this together and making it more visible, new members would know where to look first; because as it is right now, there is no starting point. I mean, where do you begin? You just lurk the forums for years before you know how things work? That's bullshit. Just because we had to do it, doesn't mean new members have to do it too.

So yeah, I feel very strongly about making this an omni-post (regardless of moving around the current stickies).But because I haven't heard anything from the admin, I'm just going to assume they are still deciding what to do.

The number of conventions that "prefer" MPEG-2 dwindles each year, more and more replaced with mp4. It's still accepted, of course, but it isn't the standard that it once was. It's not an entirely obsolete guide, but it is older.

Ileia wrote:The number of conventions that "prefer" MPEG-2 dwindles each year, more and more replaced with mp4. It's still accepted, of course, but it isn't the standard that it once was. It's not an entirely obsolete guide, but it is older.

It's older, but then again, the biggest reason is that convention organizers still prefer something simple. MPEG-2 still remains a standard since you can put all of the videos easily on a DVD and just hand it off to pop in and play the contest. For bigger conventions, that isn't an issue--they tend to be more "professional" and have hook-ups ready for computers or even BluRay playback, if the coordinator has the right hardware for that--but a lot of conventions will still prefer the "cheap" solution of DVDs. The common opinion is that the average viewer still simply won't care if the video is HD or SD, if the video is clean enough and sizes rather well on the big screens.

Also, MP4 is a very good standard if you are using a computer and the right playback software, but because of the variable aspect ratios, picture sizes, and 1080p, it's hard to get true conformity between the videos when you just throw them onto a DVD as-is (for example, from your editing software). Also, many of the most popular DVD encoders (like Nero) have specific restrictions on its AVC usage, so in the end, we coordinators can spend a lot of time re-rendering and converting it if only because of taking variations and making them one size fits all (which is still what 720x480 MPEG-2 provides).

All three that say that they prefer MPEG-2 also accept other formats. Personally, I make an effort to send the preferred format to each con, but what's the motivation for the average contest submitter to make an MPEG-2 (and in some cases, learn how to first) when they already have an mp4 handy and the con will accept it?